By Steve Morris

British news time! We’ll forego the traditional playing of the National Anthem (although feel free to play it on your radio whilst you read this article, life is yours for the taking and nobody can stop you from such things) on this occasion, as we’ll just get straight into the announcement here. Creator/maker Adam Cadwell — yes, he of comics fame — has founded a new awards ceremony, which will be handed out at this November’s Thought Bubble Festival. Hey! That’s my home territory! Fancy that!

The British Comics Awards, a simple title I’m surprised nobody has taken before, will run a little differently to most others within the industry, with only British books allowed to be entered into consideration. Anybody can nominate a comic for consideration (as long as you stay within the guidelines) and the pool of choices will then be evaluated by The Committee — made up of Cadwell, the two main organisers of Thought Bubble (Lisa Wood and Clark Burscough), and a number of other writers and artists. These hoarse-voiced whisperers of fate will then whittle the choices down and hand things over to The Judges, who will then pick winners in each categories. The Judges have yet to be revealed, and if you look directly at them you’ll turn to stone.

The categories are: Best Comic (short-form story), Best Book (long-form story/collection),  Emerging Talent, the Young People’s Comic Award, and the Hall of Fame. Only the first three of these will be open for the public to elect; the Young People’s Comic Award will be chosen by schoolchildren from all across the UK. I’d imagine Phoenix Magazine would likely be a contender here, although surely only a fool would vote against Roger Langridge’s Snarked? Then again, according to every British newspaper there is, apparently children are fools nowadays. We’ll have to wait and see how that one goes. The Hall of Fame Award will go to a creator chosen by the committee, who will presumably be all dressed in dark robes as they ominously chant the name of their chosen victor in an echoing, dark cathedral.

This looks set to be a fun little awards ceremony! Thought Bubble has a reputation for favouring creativity and art above corporate stuff, so the nominees will likely be diverse, unexpected, and filled with incredible talent. Time to start speculating! Who do you think will win each category? Which British comics have been best this year? Why is there no category for “Best British Internet Comics Blogger Writey Person?”